


Fall Through the Trees

by fishoutofcamelot



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Body Horror, Hurt Gwaine (Merlin), M/M, Protective Merlin, Tree AU, and by that i mean theyre literally trees
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:26:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27947522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishoutofcamelot/pseuds/fishoutofcamelot
Summary: Gwaine and Merlin are trees, somehow.
Relationships: Gwaine/Merlin (Merlin)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 59





	Fall Through the Trees

Two trees sit at the top of a lonely hill. They've been there for as long as anyone can remember, and the area surrounding them has been completely devoid of any animal life for just as long. No bugs crawling over exposed roots, no birds nesting in the branches, no further vegetation besides a stubbly ring of crabgrass. Not even dandelions thrive there, up on Cariad Hill. 

No one knows what kind of tree they are. No one has seen anything quite like them. They have thick, dark, marble-like wood; they have lush green leaves like that of an alder tree, but those leaves never shed to the ground; they bear no fruits or seeds of any kind, but there are always strange rocks lying along the ground near them. 

Supposedly, anyone who steals one of the rocks will become stricken with horrific dreams. No one can ever quite put to words what those dreams are about - and if they can, then they certainly don't want to.

People sometimes will try to sit in the trees' shade, just to see what the fuss is about. None of them ever sit there for long. None of them ever explain why. But if the haunted look in their eyes and the unconcealed tremor in their hands are any indication, then maybe some questions are best left unanswered.

Local urban legends claim that the trees were people once, back in the Dark Ages. One was a knight, brave and noble and true. He had beautiful hair and kind eyes, and all the people loved him. 

Well, not  _ all _ the people.

There was a sorcerer, bitter and wicked in the way that fairytale villains often are, and she envied him. It wasn't fair that he could be so loved, while she remained in squalor and filth. So, in a fit of jealousy, she cursed him into the form of a tree. 

Some of the more graphic iterations of the legend describe the transformation process in great detail: pieces of wood bursting forth from his skin like a mail of broken bones, countless wounds weeping a mixture of sap and blood as tree branches struck out between his ribcage to wrap around his arms. His skin, unraveling and inverting, his whole body turning inside out as his misshapen remains wept out in agony to the uncaring cosmos, until even his tears hardened into wood.

The knight's lover, a warlock of greater power but lesser experience than the sorcerer, came to the scene of the knight's undoing just a scant moment too late. Rage and pain tore out from him in a tidal wave of energy, obliterating the sorcerer with the sheer power of his screams.

The warlock spent eons trying to find a way to reverse the spell and restore his lover, but nothing worked. His magic could move mountains and raise the dead, but it could not accomplish this single task.

So, determined to remain by the knight's side forevermore, the warlock turned himself into a tree as well.

Obviously, none of this is true. Magic isn't real, and people can't turn into trees. The story is merely a fairytale to placate children in a less enlightened time, to explain why the threes' branches are so profoundly entwined as though in an eternal embrace. 

On November 14th, 2019, a land developer named James Pillar decides he wants to expand the Rolling Glory Gated Homes territory into Cariad Hill. Despite their hesitance, City Hall can't find a reason to deny his request that isn't rooted in superstition and lore. So, as municipal governments are wont to do when pressured by large companies, they approve him for the proper building codes and paperwork to buildoze over Cariad Hill. 

The older people in the town, the people who have seen the trees up close, the people who have stolen rocks and suffered the resulting nightmares, all of them protest against it. Cariad Hill and the often-dubbed "Lover Trees" are a part of the town's history, and shouldn't be destroyed quite so flippantly.

Unfortunately, their protests end in vain.

The trees are scheduled to be cut down on the brisk morning of January 4th, 2020 - a spectacle that gathers about half the town to watch.

When the first chainsaws dig in at 7:07 AM, a loud scream rends the air. It is vicious and otherworldly, unlike anything anyone could ever describe with human words. The closest approximation to it would be that of nails on chalkboard, but even that doesn't fit the sound very well. 

The man pauses, looks up at Mr. Pillar, gets permission to keep sawing, and does so.

The screams continue.

Whenever they pull the saw up against the tree's trunk, the air vibrates with a most unbearable screeching noise. A few people in the audience have to return home and treat their bleeding ears.

Mr. Pillar, concluding that the screams must be an odd form of sabotage from the protesters, orders a second worker to come in with a second chainsaw. But as the second worker climbs up the steep hill, a gust of wind knocks him to his feet.

He gets back up. The wind knocks him back down. The wind, stronger now, knocks all of the landscapers onto their backsides. Mr. Pillar lands face-first, and gets mud all over his steam-pressed suit. 

Disgruntled and annoyed, the developer picks up the chainsaw and decides to take matters into his own hands. He swings the chainsaw in a vicious hacking motion, brings it down on the tree before the wind has another chance to pull him away. 

It pierces through the bark.

Something red and sticky splatters into his face, onto his glasses. 

A red substance oozes from the tree's new wound, drips down the chainsaw's metal face. 

He only has a brief moment for horror to settle deep into his bones, before a howling gale jerks him across the field and into a dozer. His neck snaps upon impact. 

Two trees sit at the top of a lonely hill.


End file.
